scot-free

[ skot-free ]
See synonyms for scot-free on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. completely free from harm, restraint, punishment, or obligation: The driver of the car escaped from the accident scot-free. The judge let the defendant off scot-free.

Origin of scot-free

1
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at scot, -free

Words Nearby scot-free

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use scot-free in a sentence

  • Sometimes an entertainment is being prepared scot-free for his back; and sometimes his back is a beautifully embroidered carpet.

    The Private Life of the Romans | Harold Whetstone Johnston
  • I only wish I had been there; they wouldn't have got off scot-free, the scoundrels!'

    Sarah's School Friend | May Baldwin
  • And if you can show that you weren't there at all—why, out you go, scot-free.

    The Calico Cat | Charles Miner Thompson
  • He is then considered as having paid for his footing, and may ever afterwards pass scot-free.

    Hudson Bay | R.M. Ballantyne
  • Cushing's coolness, courage, dash, and invincible luck had carried him scot-free through another dare-devil adventure.

British Dictionary definitions for scot-free

scot-free

adverb, adjective
  1. (predicative) without harm, loss, or penalty

Origin of scot-free

1
C16: see scot and lot

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012